Well, they tried. Heck, they probably deserved to win that game. But when you play not to lose, that’s usually what ends up happening.

Scoring Chances

-

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

-

Pardy

7

0

0

0

7

Stuart

3

5

0

1

-3

Ellerby

7

5

0

0

2

Kane

9

4

0

1

4

Jokinen

8

4

0

0

4

Halischuk

6

1

0

0

5

Ladd

5

4

0

1

0

Wright

0

0

0

1

-1

Little

3

5

0

1

-3

Thorburn

0

0

0

0

0

Clitsome

9

0

0

0

9

Wheeler

4

4

0

1

-1

Tangradi

0

0

0

0

0

Byfuglien

9

4

0

2

3

Enstrom

7

4

0

1

2

Setoguchi

10

3

0

0

7

Scheifele

6

1

0

0

5

Frolik

8

1

0

0

7

-

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

-

Coyle

4

5

1

0

0

Stoner

1

4

0

0

-3

Scandella

3

3

0

0

0

Koivu

4

8

2

0

-2

Parise

4

7

2

0

-1

Fontaine

2

2

0

0

0

Heatley

2

10

0

0

-8

Zucker

3

2

0

0

1

Suter

5

9

2

0

-2

Brodziak

1

8

0

0

-7

Niederreiter

1

3

0

0

-2

Cooke

1

8

0

0

-7

Brodin

4

13

1

0

-8

Konopka

0

0

0

0

0

Pominville

5

5

1

0

1

Prosser

1

3

0

0

-2

Spurgeon

3

7

0

0

-4

Dumba

1

4

0

0

-3

Team

1st (ES)

2nd (ES)

3rd (ES)

OT (ES)

Total (ES)

Winnipeg

5 (5)

7 (7)

5 (5)

4 (4)

21 (21)

Minnesota

0 (0)

7 (6)

4 (3)

0 (0)

11 (9)

Observations

The Jets came out in the first and controlled the Wild. Heck, for the first time all season they managed to shut a team out chance-wise through an entire period. Sure, they weren’t able to score despite a 5-0 lead on the chance-board, but it was progress. Minnesota kept things relatively even throughout the rest of regulation, but the Jets inability to finish the Wild off late in the third ultimately cost them this win.

Evander Kane and company spent the majority of the night facing off against the Wild top pairing of Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin, and the Wild top line of Parise, Koivu and Pominville. Now I don’t know about you, but I would say they held their own against what are usually very strong possession groupings. I get the Kane is in a pretty bad scoring slump lately, but overall he is playing well.

The Jets third line broke their streak of terror and had a very positive game. They were responsible for both Jet goals, but most importantly refused to allow the Wild to pin them deep in their own zone. This led to only a single chance against, and well-deserved praise for a third line that has had struggled for a lot of this season. I still believe Scheifele belongs in the AHL, but it’s nice to see him have some success.

With Jacob Trouba reportedly making a return to the lineup on Monday somebody is going to be moved out of the lineup. There was only one defenseman who finished below .500 in chances at even strength. You would think he would be the guy to go to the press box right? Not with Noel logic. Odds are it will be the +7 guy and far superior third pairing defenseman Adam Pardy who gets moved out of the lineup, while Mark Stuart continues to enjoy his free ride.

I’m usually pretty hard on Grant Clitsome, but he (alongside Adam Pardy) had a pretty good game against the Wild. What kind of message do you send a team when you take out players who play well and leave someone in who has yet to perform to any sort of acceptable level?

Final Thought

The Jets need to learn how to win games like this. It’s just that simple. I hate to keep turning back to him, but I honestly believe it all begins with Claude Noel and his “don’t blow it” mindset. They simply do not have that killer instinct and it has resulted in too many losses.

I write things, you read them. Then tend to yell at me for them. It's okay though, I'm from Winnipeg. I can take it. If you actually do like what I write, give me a twitter follow here (@thrubeniuk): https://twitter.com/thrubeniuk